Tag Archives: paranormal

Book Review: Valkyrie Cursed, by Rosie Wylor-Owen

I picked up an ARC of Rosie Wylor-Owen‘s Valkyrie Cursed through Booksprout.

Rowan McQuaid should be dead.

Valkyries don’t survive vampire bites. But after releasing a tomb full of rabid vampires, Rowan is still breathing. Her survival means one thing: somehow, she is immune.

When witches are slaughtered in their homes, Rowan discovers the vampires are hell-bent on killing the descendants of those who imprisoned them. And every drop of blood spilled is on her hands.

Forced to team up with the mysterious vampire Nate Hallewell, Rowan must find and stop the rogue vampires before they kill every witch in south east England.

I thought this was quite entertaining, but nothing extraordinary. A perfect middle of the road read. I liked Rowan, Nate and crew. I appreciated the slow-slow burn of the maybe-future-relationship. The book is easily readable and I don’t remember any big editing mishaps.

But I also didn’t think the world particularly well developed. I, for example, couldn’t really pick out the lines between some of the species. What made a witch and a valkyrie different, for example, other than culture? How aware was the rest of the world of paranormals? I have no idea, etc. Nor did I think Rowan’s the family history adequately utilized. Though I did recognize that her and her brother’s situation mirrored Nate and his cousin’s.

All in all, I like it. I’d read another. But I’m not running out to buy it. (Well, I don’t think a next exists yet. But you get the idea.)

Book Review: Ever Strange, by Alisa Woods

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I picked up a copy of Ever Strange, by Alisa Woods, as an Amazon freebie last September.

An incubus FBI agent, a billionaire witch, and someone spiking street drugs with deadly magick.

Zane Walker’s undercover in Chicago’s deadliest drug cartel—and his magic is as dirty as the enhancers they peddle. When a beautiful witch storms in, making demands she thinks she can back up with magick, he’s forced into a split-second choice… and his monster rages out.

Ever Strange’s father was murdered. They made it look like an overdose, but Asher Strange, world-renown med-magick researcher, would never take tawdry magick enhancers. But before she can get an autopsy, her father’s body disappears… and being one of the richest witches in the city means she will get answers.

Someone’s putting deadly magick into street drugs… and it’s killing people all over the city. Zane’s magick is monstrous, and Ever’s power brings out his beast. But she insists on finding her father; and keeping her safe has suddenly become his job—on top of stopping an epidemic of overdoses that just might be cover for a serial killer. Together, they work to stop the dark magick that’s stalking the streets of Chicago… and try to keep their own secrets from consuming them both.

I thought this an amusing, if shallowly developed, story. I picked it up because the blurb inferred that the male character used sex magic and the female one was a billionaire. I thought that subverted the norm, where woman are usually associated with sex and men with financial power. The book didn’t really utilize it in any significant way though. The characters were actually pretty standard. She was plucky and, yes, rich, (but still somehow innocent and down to earth, of course) and he was extremely dangerous, dark and brooding (but not actually the psychopathic killer people think him, of course).

But I did like both characters. After the initial introduction we see a softer side of Zane that I appreciated. No alpha-asshole here! And Ever saved the day with her skill more than once. So, no wilting violets either. And the whole thing is easily readable with no contrived misunderstandings or too-stupid-to-live drama to complicate things. But the plot is pretty thin, the world basically sketched out, and and the whole thing more more fluff than depth. But I’d read the next book if it was put in front of me.